In these present times of increasing concern for firearm safety, considerable attention has been directed at devising safety locks for firearms that restrict use of the firearms to their owners only. In addition, various localities have instituted ordinances requiring safe home storage and transport of firearms.
A majority of gun lock design efforts to answer these needs have been confined to producing gun locks for use with firearms having fixed trigger guards that were not adaptable to firearms having movable trigger guards such as those of lever action type guns where the trigger guards are part of the actuating levers which typically rotate downward during the reloading cycle of the firearms.
As this type of firearm comprises a large proportion of weapons in use by hunters today, this present invention is directed at meeting this need with a unit which is of relatively simple and economic construction and is convenient to install and remove in the field to encourage frequent use.
There is at least one example of a prior attempt at resolving the problem documented in U.S. Patent Application 2002/00116856 filed by Troyer on Feb. 15, 2002 and published Aug. 29, 2002 which discloses a bootlike device which clamps around the small of the gunstock, blocking access to the trigger and lever of the firearm.
However, the unit is somewhat bulky in design; would incur relatively high fabrication costs and would not allow opening of the firearm action to determine whether the firearm was loaded or whether cleaning was needed.
The document noted above also mentions a prior approach in which cable type padlocks are threaded through the action with a possibility of damage to common accessories while the rifle is being transported.